Title & Author: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

  Series:  Unearthly #1

  Publisher: HarperTeen, 435 pages

  Release Date: January 1, 2011

 Genre: YA Paranormal

 Source: borrowed from a friend

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SYNOPSIS: (According to my husband, who has NOT read the book —  see how well he listens to my bookish ramblings)

This book is 1 part Twilight and 2 parts Touched By An Angel and a whole lot of crazy!  You have these people who don’t know they are angels until they reach a certain age.  The way they find out is they grow wings and start glowing/sparkling.  Then they find out that they have a specific task that is their life’s goal.  But there are bad angels out there who try to ruin the day.  When you throw in a silly love triangle, this book is out of this world!!

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BOOK ROCK BETTY BREAK DOWN:

• THE KISSING –  HELL YES!  You want the tingles?  How about the kind of kissing that lights your entire body up?  Perhaps, enough energy to light up a dark barn?  This book brings on the kissing, as well as all the sugary sweetness that leads up to it.
• THE SWOONING -  Prepare to OD on swoon.  In this book there are TWO, yes, TWO hot guys worth swooning over.  We’ve got Christian– hot perfection– attractive in the ridiculously pretty way. He’s super hot and has every girl in school drooling over him.  Plus, he’s really good at everything.  Basically on a level above everybody else, but he doesn’t behave that way.  Then, on other end of the spectrum we’ve got Tucker.  Mmmmm Tucker.  Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm.  He is a scruffy cowboy…. tan, muscular, and yes he’s got charm.  He is the guy I’d want to help me out if my car broke down on the side of the road… Are you picturing this??  Early on he has some issues communicating how he really feels, and is quite sarcastic, but trust me, he knows how to treat a girl right.  He is perfect in an imperfect way.  I had trouble choosing a team.  I wanted both!
• THE SWAGGER –  I was addicted by page 3.  It’s the kind of book that takes about 20 seconds to realize that ‘HEY.  THIS IS GUNNA BE AWESOME’.  Cynthia Hand is so descriptive with her characters.  She developed them in a way that gives a clear physical and mental picture of who they are.  I hate it when I can’t SEE my characters.  I felt so connected the entire way through.  I finished it in less than a day.
• THE OH SNAP! -  There were a lot of surprises and moments that made me want to punch someone in the face.  It is not predictable and left me unsure of what would happen, or better yet, what I wanted to happen!  Oh, and there is a reference to the movie Carrie!!!
• THE UMMMM WHAT?? -  Why did the Black Wing (evil angel) have to be named SAM?!  One of his first lines is “I AM SAM”.  I couldn’t take him seriously from that point on.  All I could picture was the movie I AM SAM.  Oh… and one other thing.  After the fire, Clara takes a shower and summons her wings so she can wash them.  We are told her wings have a 10ft span…. HOW BIG IS HER SHOWER?!?!
• THE ROCK:  Ready and Waiting to Fall by Mae   

ENCORE:
What a great book!  The angel world was really unique and I enjoyed learning more and more about it as Clara experienced various aspects of it for the first time.  I love all things paranormal and I obviously love kissing, so this book was right up my alley.  What I loved most was that even though there is a love triangle, I didn’t feel a forced push toward one or the other.  At certain times I definitely leaned toward Tucker, but I have feeling the next 2 books will have me swaying back and forth!  I LOVE that!  There doesn’t seem to be a RIGHT or OBVIOUS choice.  I like that Clara is feeling that too.  It doesn’t always have to be black or white!  Thank you Cynthia Hand!  A good series makes me read insanely fast.  I have blown through the first 2 books in 3 days—-   READ THIS BOOK!  I was tempted to put this one in my firebox, but I just can’t.  It was close, but I’m going to save the space.

RATING:   TOP SHELF